ChangFa generator output voltage?

I've finished building my ChangFa generator project and had it producing power today.

I borrowed a friends "Kill-A-Watt" meter to monitor the output voltage and freq of my genset. I adjusted the engine speed to indicate 60hz and the voltage was at 127V. I used the meter to measure the house voltage and it measured 120V, with power provided by the power company.

The ST-10 style genhead can have the output voltage adjusted by installing a 5 ohm, 200W rheostat. Where does one find such a beast? Or is 127V an acceptable voltage?

Thanks

Reply to
SomeBody
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Yes and also, you didn't put load on the gen.

Nick

Reply to
Nick Müller

If you were using the generator long term you would probably notice short life on incandescent lamps, but I doubt any other common household stuff would have a problem.

Unless you can get a surplus rheostat cheap you might want to wait til you get a typical load on the generator and then check the voltage. A rheostat that large will cost close to $100. A variable resistor would be cheaper, but not as convenient since you wouldn't be able to adjust it on the fly.

Ned Simmons

Reply to
Ned Simmons

Three comments:

  1. If you put a load on the generator, the voltage will drop.

  1. 127 volts is a "little" on the high side, but acceptable.

  2. If you need to adjust the voltage, a Variac is a far better choice than a rheostat. A Variac is an autotransformer with an adjustable tap. You can adjust the voltage without throwing away any power. Further, it can raise as well as lower the voltage. Under full load, the generator will probably output a voltage that is a little on the low side... You can find one at an electronics surplus store. They're not cheap, at least not for a big one, but they work very well.

Jerry

Reply to
Jerry Foster

I assume the rheostat goes in the field circuit, not on the generator's output, so a variac would not be appropriate. A

5 ohm/200w resistor would not come close to handling the generator's output.

Ned Simmons

Reply to
Ned Simmons

High voltage for 120V circuits is actually 135V so you are well within the spec. I'll also note that it is always nice to have that higher voltage as motors will put out their torque a lot nicer and you also have some headroom for long extension cords that are usually never big enough for the currents that they are carrying.

-- Why isn't there an Ozone Hole at the NORTH Pole?

Reply to
Bob May

Reply to
Don Young

Reply to
RoyJ

The phase of the frequency determines where the power goes on the grid. Lead the grid and you pump power into the grid while matching the grid phase and you won't pump anything into it. A really neat trick.

Reply to
Bob May

Let's say 2 gens in a grid with a phase difference of 180deg: Who's leading, what's the voltage on the grid and where is all the power going that is feeded in? You can make that mind game with varying phase differences, but the result is not so obvious.

Nick

Reply to
Nick Müller

Reply to
RoyJ

I asked a rethorical question. Or do you agree with the "phase trick"? I doubt.

Nick

Reply to
Nick Müller

Reply to
RoyJ

Yes, kind of. Or better the bunny and rabbit story. Trying to solve the following situation: If a gen has to be a tad ahead in phase*) to feed power into a grid, and there are 3 gens that want to feed, which one has to be ahead?

*) as Bob says

Nick

Reply to
Nick Müller

Think of it this way: Suppose your generator is hooked to a network that has lots of generators and lots of power users (motors, TV's, and electric ovens). In this case, nothing your generator can do will make any difference to the grid. If your generator is not running and you hook on, it will behave like a motor, try to spin the engine on your generator set. Asssuming it has sufficient torque (not likely), it will spin up to synchonous speed (1800 or 3600 rpm in the US) or perhaps to a bit less to allow "slipage" in the typical induction motor winding. Your watt meter will spin in the useage direction.

Now fire up the engine and spin it up to the synchonous speed. The generator will match the grid voltage and pahse angle. No current flows, you watt meter stops.

Now try to > RoyJ wrote:

Reply to
RoyJ

There is. It is much smaller. The number and the type of charged particles that stream into the north pole are much different than those streaming into the south.

Martin

Reply to
lionslair at consolidated dot

Here you are (kind of) right. But the wattmeter shows your short circuit losses with what you try to "fight" the net. And these losses are 100%.

To see your error, draw a sine wave on some paper. Copy that sine onto a transparent paper. Lay the transparent sine wave over the other, so that they match. Important: Now, I'm just talking about the positive half wave. Look at the sine avove the phase axis.

Now shift either one a bit (10 deg, to make it clearer) to the left (or right). You have a lag/lead in the phase. No take a _close_ look on what's happening. On the raising slope, you have a positive difference in voltage, in the falling slope you have a negative difference. Where's your power going now? On the raising slope you feed, in the falling slope you sink. Right, in the drain. To make a contribution to the net, you need a postive voltage difference all the time. You get this, when you are exactly in pase and have a higher voltage than the net.

read as an overexaggeration of your "out of pahse theory"

Before you start nitpicking about "higher and lower voltage", replace it with sinking and sourcing current, if it helps.

Nick

Reply to
Nick Müller

This proposed concept makes absolutely no sense to me. Alternating current isn't the same as battery charging, which is sorta what is implied by "leading the phase" and "pumping power into". Leading the phase by 5%, for example, also means that it's lagging by 95%. Differences in potential that will be present, will have the effect of loads.

The way more power is available is that the output current capacity of the "grid" is increased by adding more parallel precisely-in-phase current sources. I would think that it's highly likely that special equipment is used to synchronize the phase and frequency of a generator's output before the contacts close.

A mismatch in phase or frequency should be avoided, not intentionally induced. Mismatches will cause dramatic currents due to differences in potentials.

The out-of-phase reaction can be observed when parallel connecting the secondary windings of a dual-secondary power transformer. The out-of-phase current is maximum opposed currents. This test is best done with a test lamp to avoid destruction of the transformer.

When the dual secondary windings are properly phased, the current capacity essentially doubles. For a transformer with dual 12V 5A secondaries, the output current capacity would be 10A. This same practice is followed when connecting secondary windings of separate transformers.

One would not attempt to parallel the output terminals of an individual

3-phase transformer for the same reasons. The out-of-phase currents would cause instant destruction of the transformer.

There isn't any practical reason to try to determine which phase leads, it's not relevent and has no meaning in AC power usage. In your home L1 and L2 are opposed, and that's not an indicator of which one occurs first in real time. The same with 3-phase, it's just the separation of the phases that gives it it's characteristics.

In working with either one in home or shop environments, load balancing is about the only important consideration, with safety being at the top of the list.

WB ............

Reply to
Wild Bill

I remembergong to a power station in Lancashire. They had a meter, presumably connected to the three phases of the mains grid and also to the three phases of the local generator. On the face of this meter was shown "Lead," "0," and "Lag."

When they had to run the local generator, they controlled its speed until the meter stopped rotating and only when it settled down at the "0" position would they operate the circuit-breaker to connect to the grid. As you say, if there were a severe error. it would result in breakers tripping out and general mayhem!

I don't know if this has any relevance to your problem, but I thought I might contribute it, anyawy.

G.H.Ireland

Reply to
Mr G H Ireland

Isn't that what electricians call "the smoke test"?

Reply to
Tom Miller

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